It’s time for our weekly round-up of some of Kickstarter’s more ‘out there’ projects and there’s something for everyone this week, whether you’re an artist, cyclist, photographer or you just want a hand focusing on your work.
Living Ink
In a nutshell… it’s ink that grows!
For those with an artistic inclination, drawing and painting can be both therapeutic and enjoyable – imagine how much better it would be if your art grew? Using a combination of ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ inks you can form some wonderful creations with Living Ink which will grow and transform over a number of days.
Living Ink harnesses a combination of Chlorophyll-containing Algae and Cyanobacteria to create sustainable growing ink which changes from one day to the next.
Ulo
In a nutshell… a home security camera that looks like a owl.
Something for the smart home that’s a bit more personal than a faceless camera! The Owl-shaped Ulo has a few nifty features to make you feel more connected to your home security, namely the ability to customise eye expressions for different moods and scenarios.
Thanks to blasting through its funding goals, the Ulo now films in full 1080p HD, is waterproof and even features facial recognition.
Figment VR
In a nutshell… Virtual reality in your pocket.
With YouTube now supporting 360 Videos and Facebook experimenting with it, as well as the impending releases of the Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift, there’s never been a better time to get involved with Virtual Reality. A great place to start would be the Figment VR which aims to be the world’s first virtual reality viewer built into a phone case. As well as making this super accessible is also allows for excellent portability so you can enjoy Virtual Reality experiences where ever you are.
HAIZE
In a nutshell… minimalist urban bike navigation.
Navigating busy streets on your morning commute is hard enough and trying to follow directions can be even worse, especially if you can’t afford to take your eyes off the road.
Now, this is where the HAIZE comes in – operating in a similar fashion to mini-maps in video games it features a ‘magic compass’ that points towards your destination leaving you free to make your own way to your destination. If however, you fancy a more sat nav-y approach, the HAIZE also offers turn-by-turn navigation so you can follow a more specific route.
Make Time Clock
In a nutshell… A minimalist ‘clock-in’ timer
Following a similar line of thinking to the popular Pomodoro technique, we have the Make Time Clock from Chap Ambrose. With a default session time of 30 minutes (although this can be customised in the accompanying app) the Make Time Clock sets you a sufficient time to get work done.
LEDs on the front of the device light up to visualise progress and the accompanying app tracks this allowing you to see both long and short-term progress.
Hansnap
In a nutshell… a stick-on camera strap for smartphones, tablets and GoPros.
It would be remiss of us to not include a few smartphone accessories so our second this week comes in the form of the Hansnap. Although previously unsuccessful, the Hansnap is back with more features and better branding, and has already beaten its funding goals.
Just peel, stick and click the Hansnap to your device so you can easily keep it to hand. The strap allows you to hold your device at a more comfortable angle for better photos or can be attached almost anywhere else to capture your best moments.
Great article guys.